Queensland has shone at this year’s Planning Institute Australia National Awards for Planning Excellence, with three key category wins.

They included Cairns-based Dr Sharon Harwood, who was named Planner of the Year for her outstanding leadership and contribution to advancing planning for indigenous people and regional communities in Far North Queensland.

Strategic Planning and Economic Development portfolio leader Cr Anne Glasheen said the council initiated the project in the wake of the destructive 2010/2011 flood events that resulted in three deaths in the Toowoomba Region and significant and widespread damage to public and private infrastructure.

“The award recognises a ‘hard won
victory’ that was achieved in partnership with the community, the Insurance
Council of Australia, the Real Estate Institute of Queensland, development
industry and flood management, agriculture and emergency services sectors,” Cr
Glasheen said.

Cr Taylor said the Flood Risk
Assessment Planning Evaluation and Scheme Amendment (FRAPESA) project was at
the core of this work.

City of Gold Coast won the award for Improving Planning Processes and Practices.

PIA chief executive oOfficer David Williams said the awards, held on the Gold Coast this week, showcased planning’s best attributes.

These were about striving to ensure towns, cities and regions were developed sustainably to become places that allow people to thrive, he said.

“That’s not easy to do when new technologies are unfolding rapidly, when our populations are growing, and when they’re demanding new choices and options.

“When we celebrate our high-achievers, we’re not only showing that planning matters, but we’re hopefully inspiring other practitioners in the built environment sector to always aim high.”